Communications over wires and other communications channels tend to be higher latency than signaling over connections, wires, and busses in an integrated circuit (IC) or on a circuit board. Latency introduced by these communications channels, even if only hundreds of microseconds, can significantly degrade certain applications that require high bandwidth for data or that require real-time processing of data. For example, processing of high definition (HD) audio requires large amounts of bandwidth, particularly when being processed in raw, uncompressed formats. As another example, processing of data for adaptive noise cancellation (ANC) requires access to audio data in real-time in order to be able to cancel environmental sounds. That is, an audio processor needs near real-time availability of audio data from a coupled microphone to allow the audio processor to be able to generate cancellation signals for removing extraneous environmental noise. Even conventional communications paths for wired connections can be insufficient for providing this low latency data transfer that may need to be as small or smaller than one microsecond.
Shortcomings mentioned here are only representative and are included simply to highlight that a need exists for improved electrical components, particularly for communications systems employed in consumer-level devices, such as mobile phones, personal computers, and other consumer devices. Embodiments described herein address certain shortcomings but not necessarily each and every one described here or known in the art.